Offenders serve snow patrol time

More than 1,450 hours of snow clearing has been carried out by offenders on Community Service Orders in Edinburgh during the recent severe weather.

Areas which benefited from the work included care homes, day centres, sheltered housing, medical centres and bus shelters.

The figures came from the City of Edinburgh Council's Criminal Justice Service, which runs the Community Service programme for offenders.

From 2 December through to 22 December a total of 1,454 hours of work were carried out by over 100 offenders who were tasked with getting rid of snow, putting down grit and clearing side streets and walkways of ice.

Councillor Paul Edie, Health and Social Care Leader for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: "The city experienced its worst snowfall for over 40 years and the Council had to use all the resources at its disposal to keep essential services open.

"The whole purpose of Community Service is that offenders repay the community for their crimes and that's exactly what they were doing over this period.

"We took them off their routine duties and identified priority areas outside care homes, medical and social work centres and the homes of our most vulnerable people.

"The work of these offenders has benefited the city enormously. They are a valuable resource which we won't hesitate to use again."